September 2010 44 Pages Draft.pdf - Renault Owners Club Forum

A R o U N d T H E C L U B sequally talented compatriot, BennyRaepers, the pair virtually monopolising thelocal and adjacent areas’ motorsportsilverware for many years with theirDieppe machines.Tangentially, ROC members may recallthe name of John Wheeler, English archAlpine enthusiast, CAR member and thepower behind the creation of the MonteCarlo A-110, an English (rhd) closereplica of Jean Rédélé’s masterpiece, butbased on Tim Duffee’s Davrian/Darrian‘tub’. John bought and has restored one ofthe 16-valve Benny Raepers’ berlinettesand, by a remarkable co-incidence, anarticle on this very car (the ‘Vialle’painted one) appeared in ‘Berlinette’ (No.39/June-July 2010). Small world, innit?Another co-incidence occurred in ourobtaining the mint copy of this bookletthrough the welcome co-operation of AnneTribolet, a long-standing, enthusiasticmember of the Belgian Renault Club andthe Belgian Alpine Club (thank you for thiskindness, fellow enthusiast!). Anne nowworks for the ‘Mahymobiles’ car museumat Leuze-en-Hainaut (with Tournai andAth), which is the most extensive suchundertaking in Belgium. It houses the lifelongcollection of automobiles andautomobilia of the late Ghislain Mahy, and,besides many other makes, it includes over70 Renaults from 1900. Back in the 1960s,before the founding of our esteemedcolleagues, the Renault Frères Club, theROC catered for Renaults of all eras andwe knew all about those vehicles throughcorrespondence with (the late) Mr. Mahyand our then V & V Section Co-Ordinator,although the cars were not then housed intheir super new home. One should make apoint of visiting this museum, if anopportunity presents itself.Did we mention possible availability of thisinformative work? Well, it will be verylimited and one will probably only obtain a(second hand?) copy through the internet,although it will be worth the effort.‘Renault 8’ by Julio de Santiago, is thefifth title in the series ‘ColleciónVehícolos de Siempre’ published byEdicions Benzina [ISBN 84-8128-081-X], of which ‘Renault 4/4’ (alias ‘750’or ‘4CV’), reviewed some time ago inRENOTES, was the third in the sameseries. Originally published in 1998, theprint run of this later book was a mere 1500copies, so it is somewhat of a rarity and,yes, the text is in Spanish. However, muchof the reproduced technical data is verysimilar to, if not a Spanish equivalent of theFrench original, with which any Eightenthusiast will be familiar in its Englishincarnation.The major attraction of this 102-page,square format, self-laminated hardback isthe minutiae of the FASA versions of the 8,the 10 and the 8TS (remember that 8TSwas the original French designation chosenfor the 8S), and there are some excellentphotographs (b & w and colour),reproduced on art quality paper, to whet theappetite of those partial to Renault’s finalrear-engined car range. In passing, do notforget that the French run-out market forRenault Eights was supplied with FASAmanufacturedcars (complete with drumbrakes at the rear). A brief outline ofRenault’s history in Spain from the earlydays is an appreciated bonus, as is a goodcoverage of La Copa Nacional Renault 8TS(the Spanish equivalent of France’s CoupéGordini).In summary, this is not ‘just another bookabout the 8’ (of which there are preciousfew, anyway), but it is an interestingdiversion into a now somewhat overlookedclassic model bearing the Renault losange.The problem is likely to be locating a copy(the review copy was found for E25 in asecond hand motoring bookshop in France),so ‘techies’ should power up theircomputers now to scour the internet . . . .Asecond-hand French bookshopyielded a very tatty copy of the192-page self-laminatedpaperback entitled ‘AfricanTurbo’ by Bernard & Claude Marreau,which was published by Bréa Editions[ISBN 2-903198-19-5] for Frs 49 (!) in1982.The French text focuses on the brothers’trials and tribulations in preparing for andeventually winning that year’s Paris-Algiers-Dakar Rally with the well-knownyellow, black and red Renault 18 TurboenginedRenault 20 (the so-called Renault20 Turbo). Because of this long out-of-printhistory’s French text, this book is not forlinguistically challenged faint-hearts, butthe vivid recall of the blood, sweat andtears necessary to win this gruelling event,not to mention the good illustrations (somein colour), make it a rewarding read for thedetermined Renault enthusiast.Unfortunately, one cannot buy a copy atWHS down the road, so this is yet anothertitle most likely to be found on the internet,although the price will probably not be akiller.Hector Mackenzie-Wintle(Editor - as an aside, if you visit thefollowing webpage: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=wV9iO0a1sYA yOne can see an on line video of the event;and on:http://www.renault-sport.com/en/propos/historique/news.php?news=25520.htmlRenault have details of the Marreaubrothers’ achievements.R E N o T E s m A G A Z I N E375